ART PRINT TRASH TO TREASURE

Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

For this post, we're going to tease what the image was until the end, because it's so stinkin' cute!

So I went downstairs as usual and found this tucked between the two dumpsters.  I slid it out to see what it was (stay tuned!) and immediately grabbed it.

I looked at it and there was still a price tag on the back,  $129.99!  I took it upstairs and showed 2nd Man and he thought it was an awesome find.

The frame has some scuff marks around the edges but we think it only adds to the character.  And what is that peeking out of the picture?

Wait, too much of a closeup?  Ha!

Behold!

The most adorable calf (or maybe already grown cow).  We love it.  It's huge, four feet wide and almost three feet high.  I told 2nd Man I think I want to hang it in the barn.  We won't have cattle of course (though a miniature cow is so cute, I digress, ha) but it would be nice to have a little bit of that vibe in the barn.  As 2nd Man suggested, we could hang it on the loft beam at one end of the barn so that it is out of the way but in a prominent spot when you walk in and see it.  I thought it might also be cute on the back of the house by the grilling/outdoor kitchen area.

The name of the print is "Chocolate Milk", ha!

Once destined for the landfill, now it will hang in a new place at the farm for years to come.

SLAB PART TWO NEW HOUSE UPDATE

 As you may have seen HERE on Monday, our slab was poured last Friday!  I went out Saturday to mow and then Sunday, 2nd Man and I went out so we could walk around on the slab together.

It has to cure for a few days but it was safe to walk on just hours after they finished.  They could go ahead and start framing but they are going to wait a few days before they start that.

Here are some pictures are various areas of the house and a couple of photos of the whole slab.

This is a view from the living room toward the screened in porch with the large sliding doors.  Big enough for our farm dining table, the yellow hutch and maybe a couple of chairs to relax in.

This is "seeing through the wall", ha, into the master bath.  The pipe in the foreground is for both bathroom sinks, the rectangular recessed area with the drain in the middle is the walk in shower at the other two slab pipes sticking up are for the toilet closet.  The large one sticking up on the outside is for the septic and you can see the square a/c slab.

Here are a couple of fun pictures:

This is from the front yard looking at the front porch!

Picture a white railing on the right side and one across the front with an opening and then the front door at the back on the left side.  Those two pipes you can see?  Those are for the kitchen sink under the window that will look out onto the porch and front yard.

Speaking of that view...

This is where we still stand and look out the window while washing dishes!  We think we can get used to having this view every day, ha.

Here are a couple of pictures of the slab in its entirety:

This is from the back corner...that's the grilling/kitchen porch and back of the garage looking across the house toward the barn and shed...

...and here is the opposite side; the front corner of the master bedroom closet and guest room, back toward where I was standing in the previous picture.

It was a LOT of concrete.  Our foreman said it ending up being 14 trucks of concrete, which is 140 cubic yards.

How much concrete is that?

It is approximately 28,276 gallons

It weighs 280 tons (or 560,000 pounds)

It poured about 3000 square feet of concrete (living space + garage + porches)

And the slab is 6" thick (standard is 4") and has footings/beams that are almost 4 feet deep into the ground.  It's not moving and it's well up from water that might stand in the yard after a monsoon.  That dirt around the edge has been removed and leveled out with the yard, it was there to hold up the wooded forms.

Wood is being delivered this week and framing will begin as soon as they get the wood!

Our first steps on the more than solid foundation of our future home!

SLAB IS POURED PART ONE NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Picture heavy post ahead!

Saturday, when we posted about the weekend, I said there was a good thing on the horizon.  A couple of you picked up on that...a hidden thing in the photo...

Here it is zoomed in:

You see that?  That's the "good thing on the horizon" we mentioned, ha.  It arrived about 6:30am on Friday morning while it was still dark.  But what is it?

Behold!

The pump truck for the concrete that would fill our foundation!

Yep!  The concrete mixer trucks arrived and they lined up on the road out front and then, one at a time, they came down the driveway.  After each trip up and down, a skid steer went up and down the driveway to keep things smoothed out.

The pump truck pulls it from the mixer and then the boom lets them direct it right to where they want it to go.  Remember, our beams were 4 feet deep so that's a LOT of concrete.

They worked through sunrise and into the early morning.  They start in the dark when it's cooler because that is good for the concrete.

They started filling at the farthest back corner of the house from where they parked (the master bedroom) and worked toward the other front corner closest to the equipment (the garage and front porch).

Got there about 9:30am.  This was the view driving in.  

Since they started before sunrise...

...by 9:30, they were almost done!

Here, they are pouring the front porch.

They worked hard getting it all smoothed out.

This was one of the last trucks...we loved the little saying on the back end!

And then they were done!

Fourteen concrete trucks later...

We.

Have.

A.

Slab!

After that, the trucks and workers left and it was time to just let nature take its course and leave the concrete to do its thing while curing (thanks Roderick!) and hardening.

The next post, we'll have some slab pics from when 2nd Man and I went out and roamed around by ourselves to walk on our foundation for the first time.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 It's been a beautiful weekend.  Perfect weather.  Yesterday was a good day and today will be even better.  As this posts, 2nd Man and I are off to the farm to check on things and run some errands.

Recently, we had this for dinner.  Some skinless BBQ chicken legs, roasted in the oven, asparagus and then mustard potato salad that didn't use cream.  We used mustard and greek yogurt for a true fat free side.

It was all low sodium of course and delicious as always!

Here is Hobart...we always like to see him like this.  He lays there in the sun and may only be recharging, but we like to think he's deep in thought.  Because...

#notspoiled

MOWING DAY

 We've finally had an entire week of no rain and warm temps.  Things need to be mowed.  Still hard to mow around the construction and maneuver the new driveway but I'll figure it out.

So as this posts, I'll be at the farm.  2nd Man and I will go out together again on Sunday because...

We just might have a surprise waiting for Monday's post.  Just sayin'

As you can see, the skies are clear and blue, the temperature is nice and there is a good thing on the horizon!  Hope you all are having a great start to your weekend!

HANGING PRODUCE STORAGE

I have some of the best coworkers.  They always find gifts that are uniquely me.  They know I like different and unusual with a cool usability.

For my birthday recently, I was gifted this (also kind of a dual purpose gift for 2nd Man too):

It is a set of three woven bags.  I wasn't sure what they were at first.  A bag of some sort obviously, but what were they used for?

But wait...

There is one large and two medium.  I still wasn't sure what they were, but when she explained it, I was all "OMG I can't wait to hang these up".

They are vegetable bags (or baskets of a sort)!  They are used to keep produce that needs air circulation while being kept up and out of the way.

                            

Here is the large one, holding seven sweet potatoes.

They are made of a crocheted type material that is soft and breathable.

We can't wait to get some hooks put up in the pantry at the new house and use it to hold onions, potatoes, etc.  We have our orchard rack (not sure where that is going to go) but might use this more for overflow or veggies that need this treatment and have them nearby and handy for cooking.

We love a well thought out gift!

Thank you "S"!

CONCRETE POUR READY NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Well, we are on the schedule again for the concrete pour, possibly at the end of this week, we shall see (and you all will know as soon as it happens).  

I went to the farm Saturday, it was rainy, windy, cold and just generally yucky.  

This was the view when I pulled in; about to rain and already wet.

Water on the side, flowing under the driveway as they wanted but we have to figure out somewhere for this water to go.  That will probably be an "after we move in problem".  It's not a problem per se but it will make mowing next to impossible after a rain for a few days.

They did get more done, in fact, for all practical purposes, it is done and ready for the concrete.

They finished the plumbing stub ups and they added the vertical pieces of wood throughout.  These pieces of wood within the interior footprint of the slab will support the rebar grid, holding it at the correct height so it can be embedded in the slab once poured. This is to make sure that the rebar can reinforce the slab, preventing cracking and, of course, increasing its strength.

But there is water...this is the fill trench for the concrete.  They will drain it and additionally, they have sprinkled lime all around the area.  We learned that the lime mixes with the water and heats up slightly to aid in the evaporation process.  It also helps with clay soils.

There is some water in the footings, but they are hoping for evaporation and then they'll stick a pump in there and pull out as much as they can.

Oh and they added this: the form for the concrete pad where the A/C unit will sit. We're going to ask if they can make it a little bigger just because they are easier to work on when there is space around them plus it will keep plants and weeds from encroaching.

I certainly didn't need to water, ha.  I also couldn't mow because it was just too wet.  I drove the truck to keep everything running smoothly but even that, as you can see above, was risky with the wet ground.

But our driveway is awesome, bone dry and sturdy.  I guess in the end that's what matters most!

Barring anything major with the weather, the next "new home update" will involve a concrete slab!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Yesterday was kind of a washout, ugh.  Today is overcast and a bit chilly (a rare Spring cold front pushed through).  Good time for something hearty.

A reworked healthier meal.  We started with a salad, as usual, and then this is whole wheat pasta with turkey meatballs (using 98% fat free turkey) and a wonderful homemade tomato sauce.  We had to have some garlic bread on the side and this batch started life as multigrain bread.

Hobart can't jump up on the bed anymore (and we have stairs at the end for him but he can't take those any longer either) so we put him up there while we are in the room either at the desk, or doing some cleaning and he likes to lay there and remember the good old days. Because...

#notspoiled

OFF TO THE FARM

It's a bit overcast and some bigger storms on the radar farther North.  "J" said it sprinkled a bit out there but so far, the big rain has stayed away and we're 100% OK with that because the concrete pour is now on the schedule for next week!

I'm going out today to check on the plants, take some things to put in the barn and just check the updated driveway, drive the truck, etc.  Not sure I'll mow today.  We'll see how it looks when I'm there.  I could always mow around the barn/shed and the backyard area.

Hope your weekend is off to a good start!

AUTUMN WREATH TRASH TO TREASURE

Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

This has to be one of my favorite finds.  Went down there to throw some stuff away and do my normal reconnaissance run and didn't have a chance to miss this!!  A decorative wreath wrapped in some plastic and just tossed into the top of the dumpster.  I snatched it up in the blink of an eye.  I checked it over, expecting to find it broken or missing some flowers...

Nope!  It is in perfect shape!  It incredibly detailed with lots of color all around it.  Greenery with reds, oranges, yellows, rusts and even little white flowers.

Here it is, temporarily hanging on the door so I could get a picture.  Seeing it hanging up, it's definitely an Autumn/Fall wreath.  Our only guess is that someone had it for the Fall, they moved and decided not to take it with them?  Oh well, their loss and our win!

We can't WAIT to have it on the new front door at the farm next October/November!  One less thing to buy for future decorating needs, ha.